Freya Snow: Book One - Hunt

Chapter Five

After over an hour of Freya doing everything she could to stop herself from pulling out her phone, knowing that it would be rude, Irum finally got up to leave.

"You know how to contact me if you need me?" she asked, marking the first time one of the adults had acknowledged Freya's existence since she had arrived.

She nodded.

"Alright. I'll see you in a few weeks, then."

Freya just nodded once more.

Margaret showed Irum out, leaving Freya sitting awkwardly on her own as Ryan checked his phone. She wondered if that meant that it would be okay if she did the same, but decided against chancing it. Just in case.

Margaret returned to the living room swiftly enough, her hands on her hips as she looked over Freya.

"Alright," she said. "I suppose we should go and get you unpacked. We were going to order Chinese for tea tonight. Is that okay with you?"

Freya nodded.

"Are you alright if we just get a random selection of things to pick from?"

Freya kept to just nodding.

"Okay, well, Ryan can order everything and wait for the delivery man. I guess I'd better show you to your room."

Freya got up, silently following Margaret upstairs, picking up her suitcase as she went, concentrating on getting it up the stairs without it banging the walls.

"This is your room," Margaret said, stepping through the first door at the top of the stairs.

Freya followed her through, seeing another room that was overly white. The walls were white, the bedding was white, even the desk, bedside table and wardrobe doors were white. The only exceptions were the black desk chair, and the light blue curtains and decorative pillows.

The room wasn't large, but it wasn't small. It had just enough room for the double bed, bedside table and desk, with the wardrobe being built into the wall.

"I hope everything's alright for you," Margaret said, smoothing her black dress as she walked further into the room to stand by the window. "My friend Lizzie said that your teachers will expect you to have access to a computer, so Ryan scavenged one from work. He said it's nothing fancy, but it should do the job. I know Irum said you like to play computer games. Ryan said he'd help to put in a new... graphics card? Or was it RAM?"

Freya shrugged, knowing that it had probably been both. She doubted Margaret would know the words otherwise.

"Anyway, he said to talk to him about it if some of your games don't work. Oh! And I have a spare box in my room. I had meant to bring it through for you, so you can store any disks or anything."

Freya nodded, not wanting to explain that all of her games were in her and Alice's shared Steam library.

"Do you need a hand unpacking?" Margaret asked, moving over to Freya's suitcase.

"No, I should be fine."

"Oh... Okay, then."

Freya started to panic at that, internally cursing herself. Her refusal had clearly hurt Margaret somehow.

Crap, crap, crap...

"I guess I'll just stay downstairs with Ryan," Margaret continued.

"I... I didn't that you had to leave. I just... I can unpack on my own, but you can stay. You know, if you want."

Freya kept her gaze firmly on her suitcase, moving the zipper an inch from side to side.

"I'll stay," Margaret said. "But if you want alone time, you can just say."

Freya nodded as she brought her suitcase up onto the bed, unzipping it.

Freya kept her eyes on her suitcase, pretty much ignoring Margaret. She didn't really know what to say to her.

"So, are you looking forward to school tomorrow?" Margaret asked.

Freya shrugged. "I guess."

"Are you nervous?"

"A little."

"Well, don't be. I'm sure you'll make lots of friends."

Freya smiled, just wanting the line of questioning to end, as she moved between her suitcase and the wardrobe, hanging up her clothes.

"That's a nice dress," Margaret commented as Freya pulled out a midnight blue, knee-length number with lace sleeves.

"Thanks. It's my favourite."

"It probably would have been mine too at your age."

Freya smiled as she continued, but it was draining to concentrate on keeping it up so much.

"Oh, before I forget," Margaret said before hurrying out of the room. She quickly returned with plastic bags, filled with navy jumpers and white polo shirts.

"It's your new school uniform," she explained. "You should probably try it on to make sure it fits."

Freya nodded, taking the plastic bags full of uniform as Margaret walked out of the room to let her change.

Freya quickly stripped off, before fishing out a black skirt from her suitcase. She pulled it on before unpacking one of the polo shirts.

Once the polo shirt was on, Freya turned to the mirror in the inside of the wardrobe door, only to realise that it was clearly unisex, as it hung from her chest in a way that exposed her stomach, even though the back was fine.

Freya took a deep breath, telling herself that it was fine. She didn't have to tell Margaret. It probably wouldn't be noticeable under the jumper anyway.

She reached for one of the jumpers, pulling that on. It, thankfully, made it to the top of her skirt, but the sleeves only made it three quarters of the way down her arms.

"Are you ready?" Margaret asked.

"Yes," Freya answered after a moment, her mind blanking on other alternatives.

Her stomach tightened with anxiety as Margaret came in looking her over.

"Oh, shi-sugar," Margaret said as she noticed the shortened sleeves. "I... I didn't think to get any bigger ones. That's a large. I didn't think there was any way you'd need bigger than a large."

Freya shrugged. "I have long arms..."

"Well, I suppose it's not meant to be that cold tomorrow. You could just wear your polo shirt and coat?"

Freya gave an apologetic grimace before pulling the jumper off to show the state of the polo shirt beneath.

Margaret groaned. "This is just like me... I should have thought ahead..."

"It's fine," Freya assured her quietly, her gaze glued to the floor. "I'll just... I could roll my sleeves up and get a bigger jumper tomorrow."

Margaret nodded. "I guess that will have to do. I'm sorry, I really... I can't believe I'm already messing this up..."

"You're not messing anything up," Freya managed to mutter. "It's fine."

The doorbell rang at that, and Freya let out a sigh of relief at the distraction.

"I guess that will be tea," Margaret said, before leading Freya back downstairs.